lightning, the electrical stuff not the plane

[trapper501]

Last night we had some terrific thunder and lightning, I love seeing the stuff and this morning there were pictures on the local news.

I've seen some fantastic shots taken of lightning in the past but never known how it was done.

Do you need special equipment? Any tips on how to achieve these pics with the minimum of gear?

It might be that the next time I find myself in a storm I could have a go.

 

[fletch5]

First off, you are aware your camera becomes a lightning conductor and you might get hit

i think people mostly use long exposures on a tripod with a cable release(bout 30 seconds i think or bulb mode). the lightning is so bright it burns in while the rest stays pretty dark.

id love to try some myself, but dont get much round by me and fear of damaging the camera doesnt help

 

[trapper501]

First off, you are aware your camera becomes a lightning conductor and you might get hit

i think people mostly use long exposures on a tripod with a cable release(bout 30 seconds i think or bulb mode). the lightning is so bright it burns in while the rest stays pretty dark.

id love to try some myself, but dont get much round by me and fear of damaging the camera doesnt help

I wasn't thinking of standing out in the storm, the pictures always look better when the lightning is some distance away anyway.

When I see it I'm usually at sea, so I guess that isn't going to be so good with a long exposure. That answers one of my questions then.

So I'll only consider it when on land.

 

[arclight]

Only tried it once and the bolts captured were not forked so the result was not that great.
I had the camera on B and f22.
I have read that some folk put the camera on B and use a dark cloth to cover the lens for some of the time between strikes to reduce over exposure. Need a bit of luck with timing doing that.

 

[buckas]

http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=144632

 

[trapper501]

http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=144632

Yes I saw that after I started this. Congrats on the pic, 5 out of 500 is a bit daunting, I suppose it might work from a ship given that lightning often seems to be about when it isn't that windy.

Somebody on another thread said that the Ixus range have interval control, I might explore that too as I more usually have the ixus when i'm away than anything bigger.